A 29-year-old father of four was shot 22 times inside an Ohio lumber warehouse by a former coworker who had left the job just one week earlier — and while the press reaches for motive, investigators say they're still piecing it together.
David Cohen, 34, of Hamilton, is charged with aggravated murder in the July 22 killing of Vincent Stoetzel at Carter Lumber's door manufacturing facility in Mason, a Cincinnati suburb that rarely sees fatal shootings. Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell, who has served 15 years, said the shootings he's typically seen consist of three to six rounds. This was 22 — execution-level force on a man at work.
Mason police arrived after 1 p.m. to find Stoetzel dead. Cohen had already fled in a gray Chevrolet Impala toward the Butler/Warren county line but was later taken into custody. He is being held at the Warren County Jail, with his next court appearance set for July 27 at 11 a.m.
Two 911 callers identified Cohen as a former temporary employee at Carter Lumber. One caller told dispatchers the shooter "unloaded a whole magazine into my coworker." A charging document filed in Mason Municipal Court states Cohen found Stoetzel in a warehouse and shot him with a pistol approximately 22 times.
Live 5 News reported that sources said Cohen left his job the previous week and returned to confront his boss. Investigators have not officially confirmed that detail, and the Enquirer didn't report it — a split worth noting. One outlet is running with unconfirmed sourcing; the other is holding back. The official line from the Warren County Prosecutor's Office and Mason police is that no further details will be released at this time.
What we know about Cohen's record: court records show he pleaded guilty in 2012 to assaulting a police officer in Hamilton County and was sentenced to six months in prison.
What we know about Stoetzel: a GoFundMe for his family says he and his wife, Maddie, share four children. A childhood friend, Stacey Smith, told Fox 19 that Stoetzel "dedicated his summers to doing volunteer outreach" and "always wanted to show God's love in practical ways." The fundraiser raised over $80,000 in two days.
Carter Lumber issued a statement saying the company is "deeply saddened" and focused on "supporting our employees and everyone impacted by this tragic event."
What we don't know is why. The motive remains under investigation. No outlet has reported any prior conflict between Cohen and Stoetzel specifically. The detail about Cohen returning to "confront his boss" raises the question of whether Stoetzel was even the intended target — but that's speculation, and investigators aren't confirming it.
The bodies aren't cold, and the story already has gaps the press is filling with sourced-but-unverified claims. The facts are ugly enough on their own. A young father is dead, shot nearly two dozen times at work by a man with a history of violence against law enforcement. Everything else — the why, the target, the buildup — is still unknown. Let the investigation do its job.
